Age determinations of lunar samples with a laser probe. This was way back in the late 70's when lunar samples were still fairly new. With this method we could determine ages of single mineral grains in lunar breccias, moon rocks that are conglomerations of different older rocks, created during impacts of meteorites on the moon.

Real-Time Data Acquisition Systems (eg. a high speed Speckle Camera at Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, and an automated telescope to observe P/Halley during the GIOTTO encounter from the ground, as well as various laboratory systems).

Rocket experiment to observe the Zodiacal Light close to the Sun during a solar eclipse in 1992 from Nayarit in Mexico.

Astrophysics Data System (ADS). I was Project Scientist for the ADS from 1992 - 2007. During this time I wrote the search software and user interface software for the literature search system in the ADS myself. This software system is still in use as of 2015. The ADS was the first web based scientific literature search system. During my time as Project Scientist essentially the complete astronomical literature back to the early 1800's was included. Most of the literature was scanned and made available freely to everybody with embargo periods for new articles of 3 years or less.

Honors and Awards

The Special Libraries Association awarded me the 2001 Physics, Astronomy and Mathematics Division Award for my role "in the genesis and growth of the Astrophysics Data System, the development of which represents an unparalleled shift in the propagation of the literature of astronomy. ... Under your leadership, the ADS ... has become an indispensable aid to astronomical research." (Excerpt from Physics Today, Volume 54, issue 8, page 61.

Hobbies

Flying in aerobatics competitions. I own a Pitts Special S-2A , a two seat aerobatics biplane. I fly currently in the Intermediate Category. In 1999 I flew in Unlimited and received the Unlimited Stars Achievement Award. I have all 10 Achievement Awards, all flown in the Pitts S-2A. I have won quite a few contests (Overall Arizona State Champion in 1991, New England Champion, Intermediate, in 1993, third place in the International Aerobatics Championships and Championships of the Americas in Fond du Lac, WI, 1998, an FAI sanctioned international contest, Northeast Aerobatic Champion in Unlimited for 1999). I practice as much as the weather allows, so on the weekends I usually can be found at the airport at Deer Valley, AZ (DVT). I try to go to as many competitions as possible.

Besides flying in competition myself, I also give aerobatics flight instruction in my plane. If you are interested in finding out what flying upside down feels like, drop me a note.

Scuba Diving: Unfortunately Arizona is not really the best part of the country to do that. I used to live in Florida which was much better suited for that kind of activity. That's where I learned to scuba dive. Since then I have experienced some spectacular dives in Florida, Hawaii, Mauritius, the Galapagos Islands, and Australia.

Hiking: I started hiking in the mountains around Phoenix in 2013. The scenery is fantastic, and the weather allows you to hike basically all year long. One of my most interesting hikes was a hike into the Grand Canyon all the way to the Colorado River (26 km (16 miles), 1,350 m (4,430 ft), 6 hours, track). In February 2015 I finally fulfilled a 40 year old dream and hiked to the top of Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa with the summit at 5,895 m (19,341 ft). It was a great experience.

Music: Country and Western Music is my favorite music. I also have come to like Irish music. One of my favorite bars, The Burren in Somerville, MA, has live Irish session music on several days of the week.

Lifestyle: I am a crossdresser, meaning I like to wear women's clothes. I don't try to look like a woman (I have a beard after all), I just like to wear skirts.

Traveling: In 1997 I started traveling to interesting destinations all over the world on a regular basis (at least once per year). I have put some of my pictures on-line for various countries. I almost invariably get asked which country I would like to visit again, and which country I liked best. The answer to the first question is none. There are so many countries that I haven't seen, that I don't have time to go back to any of them. I may visit some larger countries again to see parts that I haven't seen (Australia, India and Russia come to mind). The answer to the second question is that I can't answer that simply. Every country is different, has different things that are interesting. You can't compare seeing tigers in India with seeing Inca ruins in Perú, with seeing stone-age monuments in Ireland, with scuba diving in Australia on the Great Barrier Reef, with seeing a cheetah mother with four cubs eating a reed buck in Tanzania. Altogether I think I had the most comfortable feeling in Việt Nam. Already on the way from the airport to the hotel in Hanoi I felt that I liked that country. But then again, everywhere are interesting things to see .....

As far as food is concerned, up to my visit to Myanmar, I considered the food in Việt Nam as the best I had anywhere. The food in Myanmar was very much the same, with the addition of hot sauce being available in most places. In 2014 I visited Georgia. The food in Georgia is as good or better as the one in Việt Nam and Myanmar. Especially the wine in Georgia is superb.